


Do as you must

by sazanaaraeleven



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/F, everybody gets one, noire/severa if you squint, tharja continues to be a terrible mother, welcome to multiship hell i suppose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-09 23:58:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6929632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sazanaaraeleven/pseuds/sazanaaraeleven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU (as always lmao). Noire hosts a sleepover at her mother's house, which is a terrible idea. All the girls are invited, and they decide to watch a terrible horror movie. Things get emotional. If you haven't seen Kjelle and Cynthia's Hot Spring Scramble DLC conversation this probably won't make a lot of sense to you. Please look it up. I'm begging you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do as you must

A slumber party. _A slumber party_. What were they, eight? Kjelle stared at her phone and sighed. Noire could be such a child sometimes. Not only that, but going to sleep at Tharja’s house sounded more like a suicide pact than a slumber party. Still, it was so hard to say no to Noire. There was always the chance that she would snap, and yell furiously, or burst into tears. Her personality was as volatile as pure alcohol. And yet, she was so frail. At least things were never boring with her around, Kjelle thought. For better or for worse. In the end, there was not much of a choice to be made. Noire had texted that everyone else had promised to come. The girls, that is. The guys obviously weren’t invited. Especially Inigo, who was super not invited, or so Noire had promised.  
“You got everything, kiddo?” Sully asked as Kjelle walked downstairs. “Gotta say, ‘s good to see you hang out with your friends once in a while.”  
“Yes, ma’am. You’ll come pick me up in the morning, right?”  
“Yeah, yeah, I ain’t forgetting you, don’t worry! But you better catch up on your practice once you’re home.”  
“I won’t forget. You know I hate skipping practice as much as you do.” Practice, practice, practice. Outsiders would think all Kjelle and Sully ever talked about was sports. And those outsiders would be right. There was no sharing of secrets, no cooking dinner together (both of them were terrible cooks), nothing of the sort. Sully was not that kind of mother, and Kjelle was not that kind of kid. Kjelle grabbed her raincoat. It was pouring outside, the perfect weather for a slumber party. The two rushed over to Sully’s old, mostly rusted car, which needed some encouragement from Sully before the engine started. “Encouragement from Sully” meaning a few solid kicks to the side, of course.

“I’m going out. You kids will be fine on your own, and you can call me or your father when you need us,” Tharja said bluntly. Noire wasn’t about to disagree, but it did make her feel upset.  
“B-But… you said you’d stay, right…?”  
“You’re all practically adults by now. You can take care of yourselves for one night, Noire.” Like all other arguments with her mother, this was not one Noire could win. She threw in the towel and sighed as her mother stepped out, giving some half-hearted advice about fire safety and not answering the door for strangers. And in case someone tried to break in, her bow would be in the usual spot, and Tharja chuckled as she said she’d help her daughter hide the body. Noire sheepishly laughed with her, until Tharja had finally left. One more sigh. At least her mother would leave her and her friends alone for the night, Noire thought. They’d share stories about who they liked, eat snacks, stay up too late, make creepy talismans together, and watch a scary movie! The perfect night for every weirdo in the neighborhood.  
One by one, the guests started to arrive. Severa immediately commented on the weird smell in the house. Noire told her that it was her mother’s incense, and that Tharja would probably get angry if they got rid of it. Naturally, Severa immediately got rid of it. Next to show up was Inigo, of course. Someone had blabbed, or perhaps he’d found out about it some other way. Either way, Noire immediately grabbed her bow and screamed something about impalement. Inigo decided he would like to live another day, and fled with astonishing speed. After he disappeared into the night, the doorbell rang again, and thus, Morgan was greeted with being held at point blank by a stressed Noire. This immediately broke the ice, fortunately, and Morgan ran inside excitedly, as if she owned the place. Energetic like a puppy, Morgan immediately got rainwater everywhere. She finally calmed down when Severa brought a towel and started drying Morgan’s hair like a concerned older sister. Meanwhile, the doorbell rang again, and Nah and Lucina arrived. Nah even brought vaguely inedible-looking cookies, which were put on the table and remained untouched for the rest of the night.  
Finally, Cynthia and Kjelle arrived. First Cynthia, who was just excited as Morgan. She immediately said she’d never been to a slumber party before, and that they should play cool board games, which was immediately shot down by Severa, who argued that “cool” and “board game” were mutually exclusive.  Cynthia answered by sticking her tongue out. Kjelle arrived last, and looked like a serial killer in her raincoat, making Noire reach for her bow again until she saw Kjelle’s face.  
“Sorry I’m late. I saw Inigo snooping around. I threw a rock at him, and he left.”  
“The mortal plane, I hope,” Severa murmured.  
“Come on in, Kjelle! Oh, you’re soaking wet… do you want me to hang your raincoat somewhere to dry?” Kjelle handed her raincoat over and Noire hurried out of the room, hanging it with the rest of the clothes.  
“Gawd, Kjelle, what are you _wearing_?!” Severa shouted, immediately attracting the attention of everyone in the room. Kjelle answered with a look of confusion. A sports bra and sweatpants, nothing flashy, but nothing _too_ sloppy, right?  
“You look like a boor! Seriously, who let you dress yourself? You have so much exposed! Like your midriff, for starters!”  
“There’s nothing wrong with my midriff,” Kjelle said. The others seemed to agree, much to Severa’s dismay.  
“Hmph! You simply don’t have any delicacy, do you?” Severa asked. “And before you say anything, that was a rhetorical question. It’s a question that isn’t supposed to be answered.”  
“Yes, thank you, Severa. I might be a boor, but I’m not stupid.” Kjelle replied. The squabbling ended when Noire frantically ran into the room.  
“So, uh, everyone, what should we do first? We could play a game, or, uh, watch a movie, or…” Noire rambled on and on, until Lucina took over.  
“I think we should watch a movie, personally. Is everyone alright with that?” she asked. Noire wanted to protest, but without Lucina, she probably would’ve gone on rambling for another solid five minutes. Nah was tucked away in the corner, reading some book on mythology. Cynthia and Morgan were peeking over her shoulders, clearly bothering her.  
“… Maybe we should pull those airheads away from Nah, first,” Severa suggested. Kjelle sighed and sat down on the couch, which was large enough to seat four people, which was very strange, considering that Tharja’s family never had people over. Noire sighed even deeper, looking through her mother’s movie collection. All horror and romance, of course. As soon as Severa managed to pull away Morgan and Cynthia, the three all moved to the TV. Nah just crawled over, close to the TV, tightly clutching her book. She lied down on the carpet with the book open in front of her, obviously intending to completely ignore the movie. Severa sat down at the end of the couch, while Cynthia sandwiched herself between Severa and Kjelle. Morgan decided to save the last spot on the couch for Noire and instead settled down on the ground, between Cynthia’s legs.  
“So, uh, which movie do we want to watch…? We can watch… well, there’s only horror or romance movies,” Noire said. Before she had a chance to apologize for her mother’s tastes, her guests immediately roared with enthusiasm at the mention of a horror movie. Even Nah was cheering for bloodshed. Lucina, who clearly preferred watching a romantic movie, looked at Noire with a scared and confused look on her face.  
“… BLOODSHED IT IS! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!” Noire cackled. Lucina looked even more scared. Noire took some random horror movie from Tharja’s sizeable collection and slid the disc into the DVD player. Lucina briefly considered faking a stomach ache and calling her father.  
“LET THE MASSACRE BEGIN!” Noire yelled, as she sat down on the last open spot on the couch.  
“Ooh, hang on!” Morgan jolted up and ran to the lights witch, dimming the lights to set the mood. “Can’t watch a horror movie without the right atmosphere!” she said cheerfully as she returned to her spot between Cynthia’s legs. Nah immediately dove into her book again, squinting because of the lack of light.  
“Notify me when the slaughter begins,” she said.  
“Me too,” said Lucina, who hid her eyes behind her hands. “So I know when to leave the room.” Noire’s face was twisted with pleasure in anticipation of the slaughter to come. Severa mumbled something about wanting the old Noire back.  
“Hey, Cynthia? Can you sit still? You’re bouncing up and down like a child!” Severa whispered.  
“But I’m excited!” Cynthia said, with absolutely no volume control.  
“Just don’t get _too_ excited. I’m worried you might accidentally choke Morgan with your legs.”  
“What a way to go,” Morgan said.  
“Kjelle, you say something about it! Or are you too busy thinking about training?” Not like Severa knew, but Kjelle was actually trying to watch the movie. The backstory of some serial killer, set during October, so naturally, it was filled with cheesy Halloween masks and decorations. Candy played a major role, too.  
“Huh? What?” Kjelle asked.  
“Hello? Earth to Kjelle? Don’t you notice Cynthia twitching like a child on a sugar rush?”  
“Oh. It doesn’t bother me,” Kjelle murmured, not interested in the conversation, which screeched to a halt as the first gore appeared on the screen.  
“Murder!” Nah yelled excitedly.  
“MURDER,” Lucina screamed as she buried her face into a velvet pillow. Kjelle was unfazed, but Cynthia’s twitching immediately stopped. Morgan feared for her life as she felt Cynthia’s legs tighten around her.  
“Ha ha ha! That foolish knave never saw it coming! I wonder how he likes the taste of his own blood!” Noire cheered.  
“Hey, Cynthia… could it be you’re… scared?” Severa said, trying to hide the tremble in her voice.  
“What? No way! I’m not scared! I’m a hero, you know!”  
“Right, right, hero, I know,” Severa said dismissively. “I didn’t know scaredy-cats could be heroes.”  
“I’m not a scaredy-cat! This movie doesn’t scare me!” The weather outside begged to differ, and a loud thunderclap outside made both Severa and Cynthia shriek.   
“BLOOD AND THUNDER!” Noire yelled. “SETTLE DOWN AND LET ME ENJOY THE BLOODSHED, YOU SQUEALING PIGLETS!”  
“The real scary thing is not in the movie, it’s on this couch… Yikes.” Cynthia calmed down somewhat, and Morgan sighed in relief.  
“Is it over?” Lucina squeaked.  
“For now,” Nah said. Disappointed with the shortness of the gory scene, she returned to her book. Later, the others would learn that it was about the most violent of Greek myths, including the classic tale of how Zeus and the other infant Olympians murdered their father, the titan Cronos. A tale much more disturbing than the movie. The other book she’d brought was the biography of the Marquis de Sade, a book that Morgan said she wanted to borrow later. Of course, this terrified everyone else at the party. But right now, the movie was still going, and the tension was high  
“This movie… kind of blows,” Kjelle said. “It’s more psychological than anything, and the gore scenes are… quite underwhelming.” She was talking over a gore scene, but no one seemed to mind. Or perhaps no one wanted to call her out on it, because no one had the guts to go against Kjelle. She towered above all the other girls, the only one coming close to her height being Noire, who was more lanky than muscular.  
“It’s just… bad, actually? I don’t find it that scary.” This came as no surprise to anyone else in the room, and yet, they all unanimously agreed that Kjelle was incredibly cool for not finding this movie scary. Because with the exceptions of Nah and Noire, everyone did. On the other hand, perhaps Noire was most scared of all, forcing her terrifying alter ego to surface longer than usual.  
“So you’re not scared, Kjelle?” Cynthia asked. Was it Kjelle’s imagination, or was she scooting closer?  
“Not really,” Kjelle answered. “I mean, murder is scary, obviously, but I just can’t seem to follow what his movie is trying to do… Are we supposed to feel sorry for Mike Myers?”  
“Obviously not! He’s a bad guy! I hope a hero gets him!” Cynthia said.  
“Well, this is a horror movie. It’s probably not going to end as well as you hope.”  
“Booo,” Cynthia said, pouting. She shuddered at yet another gory scene, and kept scooting closer to Kjelle. On Kjelle’s other side, Noire seemed to be… falling asleep? Her body slouched against Kjelle’s left shoulder, like a beanbag.  
“So… sleepy…” Noire mumbled.  
“I hate to be crude, but if I see one more scene like that, I am seriously going to hurl,” Severa announced.  
“Classy,” Morgan said. Her teeth where chattering, but she assured the others that the movie wasn’t scary to her, and that she was just as tough as Kjelle. Meanwhile, Kjelle felt uncomfortable. Not because of the movie, of course, but because Noire was drooling on her shoulder while Cynthia looked ready to clutch Kjelle’s arm out of fear.  
“Are you… doing alright, Cynthia?” Kjelle asked.  
“Y-Yes! I just… I need a moment, maybe? Okay, maaaaybe I’m a little scared. Just maybe. B-But it’s temporary!”  
“You look like you’re about to jump into my arms for safety,” Kjelle said bluntly.  
“I’m not that scared! Just… nervous! Wary, even!” Cynthia assured. With renewed vigor, she turned her full attention to the TV screen again, where another bloody scene was taking place. Some innocent family being chopped up by the main character. Noire yawned and opened her eyes, and recoiled once she noticed she was leaning on Kjelle.  
“Oh… S-Sorry, Kjelle. I guess I must’ve fallen asleep, huh? How embarrassing, hee hee…” Kjelle had no answer, and simply tried to continue watching the movie. “A-Anyway, I’m hungry! Is anyone else hungry?” Noire asked, oblivious to the stomach-turning qualities of the on-screen massacre. Nah raised her hand, but the rest remained silent. Except Lucina, who was constantly screaming into a pillow.  
“I-I’m gonna get some snacks, alright?” Noire said. Severa and Lucina offered to help, while Morgan ran off for a bathroom break, leaving just Nah, Cynthia and Kjelle in the room.  
“… I still think this movie sucks,” Kjelle said. “I’d rather be doing something else. And this sitting still is getting on my nerves.” With that, Kjelle promptly got up and stretched her limbs, but immediately stopped once she noticed Cynthia was looking away, seemingly uncomfortable.  
“Are you… alright, Cynthia?” Kjelle asked, but as soon as she said it, she realized. Because how dressed-down she was, her back was almost completely exposed. Her back… Was that what Severa was trying to say earlier?  
“Oh. Oh God. Cynthia, I’m– I’ll put on a shirt or something immediately, I didn’t mean to… It slipped my mind.” Cynthia shook her head.  
“No, it’s fine! I… I don’t mind…” That was what she was saying, but to Kjelle, it was evident that Cynthia was on the verge of tears. Kjelle hated this. Cynthia was her friend, but she was so emotional. To Kjelle, it was all in the past.  
“It’s just…” Cynthia began, sniffling a little. “It’s my fault, you know? That scar on your back. It’s never coming off.”  
“You are such a handful,” Kjelle sighed, sitting back down again. The conversation went completely over Nah’s head, who was too immersed in the gruesome stories she was reading. “Cynthia, what happened… that was years ago. And it’s not your fault. Whatever I did to make you think I blame you for it, I’m sorry.”  
“But that cutpurse’s knife was meant for me!” Cynthia said. “It’s not fair!”  
“So you’re saying I should’ve just let you get stabbed? No way. If I somehow could go back in time to that moment, I’d still offer up my back to protect you.”  
“R-Really?” Cynthia said, with tears in her eyes. “B-But you screamed really loud! And you had to go to the hospital and everything! I… I was so scared, Kjelle! And… that’s not heroic at all.”  
“So what if you’re not heroic?” Kjelle asked. “I know it’s your life goal to be recognized as a do-gooder, and I know you want to be a cop like your mother, but I think you think too highly of yourself.”  
“Wh… what do you mean?” Cynthia said, looking like she was about to bawl her eyes out.  
“You’re just not a hero. Yet. And you don’t have to be. Becoming a hero sounds like hard work. But once you do become a hero, and I know you will… this scar will be a badge of honor. Proof that I saved your life, Cynthia. How could I possibly get upset about that?”  
“Kjelle, I… that was… so totally heroic, what you just said!” Cynthia giggled. “You sounded so cool! Yep, you just confirmed it!”  
“Confirmed what?”  
“I’ve always wanted to chase after you, Kjelle. You’re an athlete who diligently trains every day, you’re strong, you’re cool, and you have a kind heart underneath that tough exterior! You’re like a hero yourself!” Kjelle didn’t know what to reply. It sure was flattering, hearing Cynthia sing such words of praise. She definitely didn’t mind, though.  
“Hello?!” Severa said as the rest walked back into the room, carrying bowls of mini pretzels, crisps and an array of sweet snacks. “Are we interrupting something? Should we go?”  
“Severaaa!” Cynthia yelled. “We’re just having a talk, okay? Don’t make it weird!”  
“Whatever,” Severa said as she dumped the bowls of snacks she was carrying on the table. Immediately, Morgan ran back into the room and took a handful of M &Ms.  
“Were you… eavesdropping?” Kjelle asked in a threatening tone.  
“Me? Eavesdropping? Ha! Ha ha ha! Kjelle, you’re so funny!” Morgan laughed nervously. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about!”  
“Should we just turn the movie back on?” Lucina asked. “Or we could abandon it, and do something else! Something more fun, like… Twister! Yes, Twister sounds fun! Or charades! Or–”  
“RESUME THE BLOODBATH!” Noire yelled. Lucina moaned in anguish. Everyone settled back into their usual positions, some with a handful of snacks, others not feeling like eating anything. Especially candy was considered a bad idea to eat because of the role it played in the movie they were watching.  
“Why are we watching this movie when it’s not even Halloween yet?” Kjelle complained.  
“Because it’s October, silly!” Noire said.  
“Yeah, October 1st. Your birthday is closer than Halloween, Noire.”  
“But I love Halloween!” Noire replied. “I think it’s great, all the costumes, and the candy… Plus all the VIOLENT AND TERRIFYING MOVIES SHOWN ON TV, HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE!”  
“Fantastic,” Kjelle replied.  
“I hate horror movies,” Severa said. “I just agreed because you barbarians all wanted to watch it, that’s all.”  
“Does… anyone besides Noire and Nah want to keep watching this?” Cynthia asked nervously.  
“I do! Me, me, me, me!” Morgan said cheerfully. “I think it’s very interesting!”  
“Well, if less than half of us are enjoying it…” Noire murmured. “I suppose we could do something else?”  
“Like what?” Lucina asked, eager to do anything but watch a horror movie.  
“We could share stories!” Severa said with a devious grin. “Gossip about who likes who, for instance,” she said, looking Kjelle straight in the eyes.  
“Booooring,” Morgan countered. “Noire, what do you think? It’s your party–” But Noire had fallen asleep again, this time lying on the armrest.  
“Maybe we should just get ready to sleep?” Cynthia suggested. “We can see what happens when the beds are made, right?”  
“I’ll carry the mattresses,” Kjelle said. “Behind the couch is fine, I assume. We can probably fit seven of them if we arrange them neatly.”  
“I’ll help!” Lucina offered. Anything was a good excuse if it helped her get away from that movie. Morgan complained and said she wanted to keep watching, while Nah was lying face-down on her book. Noire was snoring.  
“Let me just… get a blanket for Noire, or something,” Severa said. “Better not to wake her up. I don’t feel like getting chocked with the string of her bow tonight.” With that, she walked upstairs, seemingly not bothered about Tharja hunting her down if anything was misplaced. In her own way, Severa was heroic too, Cynthia thought.  
“I’m gonna change into my PJs,” Cynthia said, hopping out of the room, leaving just Lucina and Kjelle to carry the mattresses. With their combined efforts, however, they were already halfway done as soon as Cynthia walked back into the room. As soon as Severa returned with a blanket for Noire, she immediately burst out in laughter as soon as she saw Cynthia with her hair undone. It was truly a sight to behold.  
“This is a slumber party, so maybe we should brush each other’s hair,” Severa suggested. “And by that I mean we’re going to need all six of us to brush Cynthia’s ungodly hair, pffft!”  
“Brushing each other’s hair sounds nice!” Lucina said. “Right, Kjelle? Doesn’t that sound nice? Nicer than watching a horror movie?”  
“I… don’t know much about brushing hair, if it wasn’t obvious,” Kjelle replied. “But anything’s better than watching that crappy movie.”  
“Ah, yes! Crappy! That is what I meant! It was so bad, I couldn’t bear to watch it any longer! I’m glad you agree, Kjelle!” Lucina said. A child could tell she was lying.  
“My hair is fine!” Cynthia said. “It doesn’t need brushing!”  
“You’re right, it needs lawn care,” Severa replied.  
“Awww, the movie’s over? That was anticlimactic!” Morgan pouted. She was the only one still watching. “Well, now I’m tired! But on the other hand… I hope I don’t get scary dreams!” Her giggling made it sound like she wanted to get scary dreams, but she emphasized that it really was a scary movie. Lucina squeaked at the mention of nightmares.  
“Oh dear… I don’t want that guy showing up in my dreams…” she said.  
“Lucina, it’s all fake. Badly faked, too. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Kjelle said, trying to be reassuring.  
“God, Kjelle, do you fear nothing?” Lucina asked. “… Would you mind terribly if I took the mattress next to you?”  
“I-I call dibs on the other one next to Kjelle!” Cynthia announced.  
“What? No way!” Severa said. “I mean… It’s not like it scared me, but… Agh, whatever!! I did think it was scary,” she continued, her face colored as red as her hair. “Listen, Kjelle is just reassuring to be around, okay?! We can all agree on that, right? RIGHT?”  
“There is… no need for you to yell, Severa,” Lucina said awkwardly. The mood quickly dampened. Kjelle and Lucina finished making the beds, and there ended up being four mattresses surrounding Kjelle, with Nah and Noire’s mattresses to the side. Even Morgan ended up admitting that the movie genuinely scared her at points. After carefully lifting Noire and Nah onto their mattresses, Morgan, Severa and Lucina changed into their pajamas, and everyone crawled into bed, with Kjelle in the middle. Within seconds, nearly everyone fell asleep. No one had bothered to clean up the mostly untouched snacks or Nah’s potentially deadly cookies.  
“… Hey, Kjelle? Are you still awake?” Cynthia whispered, something no one knew she could actually do.  
“Cynthia, Mike Myers is not real, and he’s not coming to kill us. Go to sleep,” Kjelle replied.  
“No, it’s not about the movie. I… I have something I need to tell you.”  
“Me? Surely there’s better people to talk to about whatever it is that’s bothering you.”  
“No.” Cynthia sounded resolute. “It has to be you.”  
“Do as you must,” Kjelle said absent-mindedly. She hadn’t really intended to listen, until… The sound of someone crawling closer. Cynthia moved to Kjelle’s mattress.  
“Cynthia, I understand that you’re scared, but isn’t this a little drastic?” Kjelle asked.  
“Kjelle, I’m going to be honest… I always thought you were really blunt and kind of a jerk,” Cynthia said. The sudden harshness of Cynthia’s words caught Kjelle’s full attention. Hearing someone like Cynthia say that was like a slap in the face.  
“But I think that my opinion is starting to change… especially after tonight. I think I understand why you isolate yourself so much.” Kjelle didn’t reply. She couldn’t. Her heart was pounding in her chest. “You think I’ll feel guilty, right? That our friendship would be tainted by memories of hardship?” She didn’t admit it out loud, but Cynthia immediately thought that she sounded very cool right there, and that she would write it down later.  
“Y… You’re imagining things,” Kjelle said hesitantly.  
“No. I know I like to play pretend, but I know I’m right, Kjelle! And you know what? I like you! I admire you a lot!” Kjelle finally noticed how close Cynthia’s face was to her own.  
“I want to know more about you, Kjelle. I… I’ve wanted to for years, because I never felt like we were friends, even though you risked your life for me! And that frustrates me! I want you to open up to me!” Kjelle was worried that the noise of her heartbeat was going to wake the others up, rather than the loudness of Cynthia’s voice.  
“Cynthia, I… I don’t know what to say,” Kjelle said, hoping that the darkness would hide her blushing. “It’s true that I was worried about you, because… you’re so emotional. You and I are worlds apart.”  
“Well, I want to close the gap, Kjelle,” Cynthia said, inching closer. “You… you inspire me, no matter how blunt you can be sometimes.”  
“I’m flattered,” Kjelle replied. “I… I would not mind getting to know you better, either. Besides, you can be quite blunt yourself, so that’s at least one thing we’ve got in common.” Cynthia giggled quietly in response.  
“I prefer to think of myself as bold, thank you very much.”  
“How bold?” Kjelle asked. It was a dare. A dare that Cynthia immediately took, planting her lips on Kjelle’s, kissing her, wrapping her arms around her. The tussled a little, and surprisingly, Cynthia managed to roll on top of Kjelle. They kissed again. Kjelle embraced Cynthia, dazed by excitement and feelings she didn’t knew she had. But every time they kissed, things felt so right. Like it was meant to be. It was a rush, an experience, a drug. Cynthia kissed wild, uncontrolled, sloppily. Kjelle kissed back soberly and controlled, as if she’d done this a thousand times before. She hadn’t. Cynthia was the first girl to do this with Kjelle, and Kjelle found herself hoping that she would be the _only_ girl. One particularly passionate kiss was cut short, as Cynthia abruptly ended it.  
“I love you, Kjelle,” she announced. “I’ve had a crush on you since we were kids, and… I’m only realizing it now.”  
“I love you too,” Kjelle said. “I… I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but somehow… I know I love you. I always thought you were admirable. You’re so easy to talk to and sociable. Those are traits I wish I had.”  
“And you’re super heroic!” Cynthia giggled. “I know I’ve got a hard road ahead of me, but with you by my side, I think I can do it.”  
“I know you can,” Kjelle answered. “And even if you can’t… you are my hero. Please, never forget that.” The rush of the moment faded, and Cynthia gave Kjelle a last quick peck on the lips for the night. Almost immediately after that, like they’d forgotten about the five other people in the room, the two fell asleep, Cynthia’s head resting on Kjelle’s chest.

Unfortunately for the new couple, they were not the first to wake up the next morning. In fact, they were the last, waking up after even Nah, much to their distress when tears welled up in Noire’s eyes. She said they were happy tears, until she snapped and yelled that their insolent souls would be sacrificed to the elder gods if they dared make out in Noire’s home again. Noire had already grabbed her bow and payed no heed to Cynthia and Kjelle’s apologies, so Severa had to jump in and wrestle the bow from Noire’s hands.  
“Gawd, you two make the most embarrassing couple!” Severa said. “But… I suppose I’m happy for you two, and all. However, if one of you treats the other badly, I’ll tell Noire to sacrifice you anyway, alright? So you two better make this work!” Lucina had no idea what was going on and was the only one who didn’t put together that Cynthia sleeping on top of Kjelle meant rampant lesbianism, but she said she was happy for them anyway. Morgan was most positive of all, happy to see her two friends together, and she said that she’d seen it coming from miles away.  
“ _So_ obvious! I can’t believe you two never noticed that you had feelings for each other! I totally did, though! I predicted it! … Just not that you would be rolling around like wild animals.”  
“No reaction from the new couple?” Nah teased. “But you two are so totally not invited to my slumber party, if I ever host one. Blegh.”  
“You make it sound like I’ll turn into a horrible sap just because I’m dating someone,” Kjelle said. “Don’t worry. My first love was training.”  
“And my first love was heroics!” Cynthia cheered.  
“Maybe you could train together,” Lucina suggested.  
“Huh? Don’t be ridiculous, Lucy! Like I can handle Kjelle’s training!”  
“No, hang on. I think that’s a fantastic idea,” Kjelle replied.  
“CAN YOU TWO LOVEBIRDS GET OUT OF MY HOUSE ALREADY?” Noire yelled. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU SAW A MOVIE ABOUT A GRUESOME SLAUGHTERER AND WERE STILL IN THE MOOD TO KISS. YOU TWO DISGUST ME!!” Everyone knew better than to take Noire’s words to heart, but it was very clear that the party was over. It was a slumber party Kjelle and Cynthia would never forget, as it was the start of something monumental for them. Cynthia stuck her tongue out at Noire, and kissed Kjelle on the cheek. She put her hand on Kjelle’s back, with no trace of her previous distress. Kjelle’s scar was just a scar. And in a way, it was proof of their love.


End file.
